Canning season is still in full swing around here. Yesterday after doing laundry, I helped daughter Loretta make Thick and Chunky Salsa (recipe below). We canned twenty pints for them. On Saturday I also helped her and Dustin can thirty quarts of V-8. She still wants to make pizza sauce. I came back home around 5:30 p.m. and supper had been brought in here for Dustins and us from a church family. How nice to not have to make supper after a long day. Son Joseph took some over to Dustins for their supper. A potato/meat casserole, mixed vegetables, fruit jello, and cookies were on the menu.

Daughter Verena came home for the night, so she joined us for supper. I was glad to see her again and to catch up on visiting. She still lives by herself but has Ervin and Susan close by.

Verena has a special friend now, and I wish her God’s blessings as she travels into the unknown future. Of course she has to make it confusing and also date a Daniel. Haha! Daughter Lovina’s special friend is also named Daniel, so we need to figure out a way to name them differently, other than their second or last names.

This afternoon, we will take care of 14-month-old Denzel and 5-week-old Byron while Dustin and Loretta have dentist appointments. Verena will be here to help. She enjoys spending time with them.

I am hoping to can some more V-8 and a batch of salsa for us this week. I still have pizza sauce left, so I won’t do that this year.

It is 5 a.m., and my husband Joe and our sons Benjamin, 24, and Joseph, 21, left for work already. Loretta and her two little ones should be here soon. Dustin will work up until it’s time to go to their appointments.

Loretta is here now. She’s on the recliner feeding little Byron. Denzel is sleeping in the playpen. It is 5:30 a.m., so they should sleep several hours yet. I might take a nap until daylight after I get this written. Usually I read until I fall asleep. After the morning rush, it’s nice to take a little break.

Friday night it’s our turn to host family night. We furnish the ice cream and the rest of the family brings in supper. I enjoy these nights. Once a month we get together taking turns to host it. October family night will be at daughter Elizabeth and Tim’s house.

Next week will be autumn already. The garden is clearing out fast, with only peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and muskmelon still in it. I brought in a few muskmelons and want to cut them up to see how they taste. I usually don’t grow any but was given some plants.

I need to work on my upcoming cookbook, too. Daughter Lovina is typing it for me. I was excited to see the cover. There is a lot of work and thinking involved in making a cookbook, but it’s always exciting once the first copies come out. This is the third book I will have. I was co-author in some others that are mostly going out of print, but these last three are the ones I did along with my family’s help. God bless!

Thick and Chunky Salsa
14 pounds tomatoes, scalded, peeled, and chopped
10 green bell peppers, chopped
5 cups onions, chopped
2–3 jalapeño peppers, seeded and chopped
1 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup salt
2 teaspoons dried oregano
3 teaspoons chili powder
3 teaspoons cumin, optional
10 tablespoons Clear Jel
3 cups water

In a large pot, mix together the tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, jalapeño peppers, vinegar, brown sugar, salt, oregano, chili powder, and cumin. Cook on low heat for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. In a separate bowl, mix the Clear Jel and water until dissolved. Add the Clear Jel mixture to the pot and cook for 5 more minutes.

To can the salsa, ladle into hot pint jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims with a dampened paper towel. Adjust lids and process in a boiling-water canner for 20 minutes.

The salsa may also be frozen for later use. If you are making a smaller batch to eat rather than to can or freeze, cool to room temperature and serve.

Makes 10–12 pint jars.

Note: Clear Jel is a type of food starch you can purchase to use as a thickening agent in canning recipes. It thickens food evenly (without lumps) even when cooked at high temperatures in the canning process. You can find Clear Jel at bulk food stores and online.

Canning times are subject to change according to USDA regulations. For the latest canning times, check your county extension office or the National Center for Home Food Preservation website.

Lovina’s Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. Her newest cookbook, Amish Family Recipes, is available wherever books are sold.  Because Lovina is Old Order Amish, she does not have email or a telephone in her home. Lovina does not respond to comments on this website, if you would like to contact her directly, click here.

August 15th—we are already halfway though August. Today is my oldest sibling’s birthday, sister Leah is 64. Happy birthday, dear sister, if you happen to read this. Although we are over a 100 miles apart my thoughts were with you this morning as you turn another year older. Leah was the oldest of eight children, and I was the third youngest. So I was one of the little squirts who would try to steal Leah’s cookies when she was baking them or mess up the house after she had done the cleaning. Ha-ha! Precious memories!

Baby Byron is doing good and so is Loretta. They came home last Thursday night. He is 8 days old now and weighs 6 pounds, 4 ounces. He was 6 pounds, 2 ounces when he left the hospital and 6 pounds, 7.8 ounces at birth. Today they take him for his one-week checkup. Daughter Verena has been helping Loretta with the two little boys while Dustin goes to work. Daughter Lovina will also help out when they need her. We are enjoying our new grandbaby. Right now he eats and sleeps but I’m sure that won’t last too long. Loretta is still on blood thinner so hopefully that will prevent her from having a blood clot like she did last year after having Denzel. Good health is so much to be thankful for!

Yesterday I did laundry and then helped sister Verena and daughter Lovina with the pickles. We canned 40 quarts of sweet dills and made 20 quarts into freezer pickles. They are still in the refrigerator and then tomorrow they will be ready to pack into containers for the freezer. A very easy way to put up pickles if you have freezer space. They taste very crisp.

Happy 8th anniversary to daughter Elizabeth and Tim on August 14. They have four beautiful children: Abigail, 6, Timothy (T.J.), 4, Allison, 3, and Andrea, 18 months. Andrea just discovered her shadow. She is so scared of it. She looks down and starts to cry because it follows her. It was so cute to us but she was seriously terrified of her shadow.

Sister Verena came here Saturday morning and went home Monday night. She was a good help with the pickles we canned. She sliced all the pickles with the vegetable slicer I have.

I have been enjoying my new bike that my husband Joe ordered for my birthday in May. We just got it and I haven’t biked in quite a few years. We used to always bike as a family but when we had a few children that couldn’t bike anymore I felt guilty to bike when they couldn’t. Now that they have mobility scooters they can use those. I decided I would bike again but I can tell I am older now and my muscles have to build up to these hills again. I put Denzel in a seat on my bike and gave him a ride. He really enjoys that. Hopefully I will be able to bike farther as I keep biking.

Wednesday night our family plans to attend the 6th annual fish fry at our neighbors’ Joas and Susan. This is always enjoyable to visit with the families from our church. They have this for our church district each year.

We are in the middle of canning season, and I want to help Loretta with her canning. Son Joseph and Joe dug up the potatoes from our garden. Also pulled the sweet corn and we are enjoying that. What we don’t use fresh I will freeze.

Daughter Susan and Ervin had a busy weekend. They had a garage sale to sell some of the extra things they accumulated. Putting two households in one doubled lots of things.

I will share my recipe for freezer pickles. It can also be found in my cookbook, The Essential Amish Cookbook. This cookbook and my other one, Amish Family Recipes, can be bought at your local bookstore, Amazon, or by calling 1-800-245-7894. God’s blessings!

Freezer Pickles
2 quarts fresh pickling cucumbers, unpeeled and sliced
1 large onion, sliced
2 tablespoons salt
1 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar

Put sliced cucumbers, onion, and salt in a large bowl and refrigerate for 24 hours. Drain after 24 hours. Whisk together sugar and vinegar and pour over cucumbers. Cover and refrigerate 24 more hours.

Pack pickles in freezer-safe containers. Pour pickle syrup over, leaving a little headspace in each container. Freeze. Will keep in freezer up to 6 months.

Lovina’s Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. Her newest cookbook, Amish Family Recipes, is available wherever books are sold.  Because Lovina is Old Order Amish, she does not have email or a telephone in her home. Lovina does not respond to comments on this website, if you would like to contact her directly, click here.

We have entered the month of August. We are having cool mornings after having hot and humid weather last week. We also had a few storms that took down trees and branches in the area. Son Benjamin mowed the grass last night and also cleared up a lot of branches from our yard. We have lots of trees. The grass looks nice and green, and the rain perks up the gardens.

Today my plans are to can sweet dill pickles. I use Palace King cucumbers and grow my own dill so it’s easy to make them. Last week we canned 14 quarts for daughter Elizabeth while helping her. We also use the Palace King cucumber for fresh eating. It has a rougher skin, but I just scrape it and then slice them. Or sometimes I peel them for cucumber salad. They stay very crisp when canning them. I usually serve this kind when we host church services.

Today, daughters Lovina and Verena are assisting Elizabeth with last-minute jobs that need to be done before they host church services on Sunday. Lovina left last night and spent the night at Verena’s house. Daughter Loretta and her son Denzel are here. Denzel is starting to walk. When he wants to go somewhere fast, he crawls because he still thinks it’s faster than walking. Right now he’s sitting beside me looking at a book. He is taking an interest in books now. Of course, we only give him the cardboard types because he loves to tear up paper. When he gets ahold of a newspaper, there isn’t much left of it when he gets done with it.

Last night’s supper was brought in for us, and also for Dustin and Loretta. This is the third meal brought to us from church families. Our bishop’s wife passed out slips of paper to our church families or whoever wanted to help with a date on it to bring some in to Dustin and us. She told me that every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for several months the meals will be brought in. This is just so thoughtful! We really appreciate it. We cannot be thankful enough for our church families that show support and are willing to help out each other. The meals have been really delicious as well. It will give me some more time in the weeks ahead to help out Loretta.

Monday, I took son Kevin to get his stitches removed. It seems to be healing well. The doctor did a good job to put the stitches close to the eyebrows to help hide the scar.

I can smell freshly cut hay from the field beside us. Dustin also has hay cut that needs to be put in most likely today or tomorrow. We have put our hayfield into pasture for our horses and were buying hay. Benjamin has two horses, Joseph has two horses, and Joe and I have one horse and a colt and our pony, Stormy. Joe wants to get some beef calves to raise for our own use.

I need to get started with the pickles. My work won’t get done with me sitting here!

I will share the pickle recipe I will use today. May God bless you all!

Sweet Dill Pickles
Pickling cucumbers, sliced (enough to fill 3 quarts)
2 cups vinegar (I use white vinegar)
2 cups water
3 cups white sugar
2 tablespoons salt (I use a canning and pickling salt)
4 cloves garlic (per quart)
2 dill weed heads, or 1 teaspoon dill weed seeds (per quart)
Pinch alum (per quart)

This recipe will make about 3 quarts. Place sliced cucumbers, dill, garlic, and alum into quart jars. Heat vinegar and water until hot, then add sugar and salt and stir to dissolve. Pour liquid over cucumbers, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace above the top level of the brine. Cover jars with lids and bands and process in a boiling water canner for 5 minutes.

Note: Canning times are subject to change according to USDA regulations. Check your county extension office

Lovina’s Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. Her newest cookbook, Amish Family Recipes, is available wherever books are sold.  Because Lovina is Old Order Amish, she does not have email or a telephone in her home. Lovina does not respond to comments on this website, if you would like to contact her directly, click here.

Last week we went to the orchard to pick grapes. All the households in our family went along, and our driver pulled an enclosed trailer so we could all get our grapes home. We take along 5-gallon buckets, and that is counted as a half-bushel. Some picked Niagara grapes, which make a light-colored juice. I prefer the Concord, so that was what we picked for us. Daughter Susan mixes the Niagara and Concord for her juice. The Niagara grapes were easy picking, but the Concord were more of a challenge and time-consuming, because of wet weather and hail earlier this year.

Friday we canned grape juice using steamers. I helped daughter Loretta with hers. We also brought cider home from the orchard, so we are enjoying that with popcorn and apples (we also bought those at the orchard). The orchard is a 30-minute drive away with a vehicle, so that’s why we all go at the same time.

While filling the jars from the hose of the steamer, I had an accident. The hose slipped from the jar and the boiling grape juice went over my hand. I have a pretty big burn from it. It is sore, but I get relief when I put a burdock leaf on it along with B&W salve. It’s just unhandy, since it’s my right hand and I’m right-handed. It hurts to write, and I feel sorry for my editor that has to try to read my handwriting. I need to get after my daughters to see if they will take a turn writing again. It’s a busy time of the year for the young mothers.

We also canned hot peppers, and I’ll share my recipe this week. We like the Serrano peppers. They seem to stay crisper after canned.

We also like to grow the sweet banana peppers to stuff with cream cheese and shredded cheese then wrap with bacon, using round toothpicks to hold it on. We put them on the grill until the bacon is cooked. I don’t can those peppers but like to keep some for as long as I can after the frost. We pick them and keep them in our back porch where it’s cool on days like this. Some places have had a frost, but my garden plants still didn’t get frosted.

October 2 was brother Albert and Sarah Irene’s 36th anniversary. I was 15 when they were married. Alberts are hosting our family gathering on October 15. Our family is almost to the 200 count when we are all together. One of the siblings hosts the family each year. They furnish the hot food and everything else is brought in. It accumulates to quite a bit of food.

October 1 was daughter Loretta and Dustin’s first anniversary. October 4 was sister Liz and Levi’s 30th anniversary. They were married the year before Joe and I, so next year will be Joe and my 30th anniversary—Lord willing!

We wish all three couples many more happy and healthy years together and God’s blessings always!

Also, congratulations to niece Rosemary and Josiah as they were united in marriage on October 1. May God bless them through their married life together.

And as I bring this to a close, I want to sign off wishing you much good health and happiness as we travel into the unknown future! God bless!

Pickled Hot Peppers
Hot peppers, sliced
3 cups vinegar (white)
3 cups water
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup salt

Fill jars with sliced hot peppers. Heat vinegar and water, bringing to a boil. Add sugar and salt, stirring until dissolved. Pour brine over peppers and seal jars. Process in a boiling-water bath canner according to USDA guidelines suggested by your local extension office or the National Center for Home Preservation website. Makes enough brine for 5–6 pints.

Lovina’s Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. Her newest cookbook, Amish Family Recipes, is available wherever books are sold.  Because Lovina is Old Order Amish, she does not have email or a telephone in her home. Lovina does not respond to comments on this website, if you would like to contact her directly, click here.

Thirteen years ago today—September 14—sister Emma and Jacob were blessed with a daughter Marilyn. She died eight and a half months later, leaving heartbroken parents and siblings. We were so close to her—how hard it was to go tell Jacob and Emma’s children and my own in school that day that their little sister/cousin had gone to be with Jesus. Often through the years, when we have seen girls her age, we wonder how Marilyn would look at that age. But it was God’s will. From the sidelines, though, I know how Emma and Jacob hurt. Such an angel! Emma was still breastfeeding her, and her arms felt so empty. Marilyn’s stay on earth was short, but she received lots of love in that time. Emma miscarried twins a few years later but wasn’t able to have more children. She is blessed with two girls and three boys. She misses her dear husband, Jacob.

We found our 18 1/2-year-old horse Ginger dead in the field one morning. Ginger put in a lot of miles pulling our family through the years. We have her daughter Midnight for our main horse. Joe trained Ginger and Midnight. Son Benjamin has her half sister Beauty for his horse.

Ginger was born six days after we moved to Michigan. Her mother, Itty Bit, was also a good horse. It’s always hard to part with a horse that has been around a long time, and you grow attached to them. She was a leader in our group of horses, so they all looked a little lost for awhile.

Our garden is all cleared out and ready to till. The garden beds still have tomatoes, green peppers, sweet banana peppers, serrano peppers, and cucumbers. We plan to can serrano peppers today, along with more pickles. We canned twenty quarts of pickled red beets on Monday—ten quarts for us and ten for Dustin and Loretta. We serve these red beets at our church lunches when we host the services.

Niece Emma and Menno are hosting church on Sunday, at which we will be having council meeting (preparatory services for communion). Lunch is usually served during the services, as the service lasts until early afternoon. A couple dozen people at a time will go in to eat until everyone has eaten. Tomorrow my daughter and I have plans to go assist Emma with whatever she needs help with for church services on Sunday.

Saturday evening we went to daughter Elizabeth and Tim’s house for Abigail’s birthday supper. She was excited to have everyone come for her sixth birthday. Elizabeth made cupcakes and had six candles for her to blow out. Supper menu was grilled hamburgers (along with all the add-ons such as lettuce, tomatoes, etc.), potatoes (cooked on the grill), cupcakes, cookies, and ice cream. We played games after supper.

Granddaughter Jennifer (Susan’s daughter) started school this week. She seems to like it. Abigail (Elizabeth’s daughter) said she’ll take care of Jennifer if she’s scared. Abigail, Jennifer, and Kaitlyn (Ervin’s daughter) all seem to be enjoying school.

Yesterday I attended a Tupperware party hosted by daughter Verena’s friend Laura. She’s a neighbor to Susan and Verena. I took our horse Midnight and our buggy to the party. Afterwards I went to daughter Susan’s house for a few hours. I wanted to be there when Kaitlyn and Jennifer came home from school. Abigail had been dropped off already. Isaiah (Ervin’s son), 4, said he goes to school, too. When they asked him what his teacher’s name is, he said Jesus. He sees the others going to school and wants to go, too.

Ervin (Susan’s friend) is now a homeowner here in Michigan. He bought the farm around the corner from Susan’s house, around a half mile from there. Next month will probably be busy, getting his things all packed again and moved to his new place. This will be so much easier for Susan and Verena to watch the children while he’s at work.

I’ll share the recipe for pickled red beets for those interested in canning.

God’s blessings to all!

Pickled Red Beets
10 quarts raw beets
5 cups white vinegar
12 cups water
6 cups sugar
4 teaspoons salt

Boil beets until tender, 10–15 minutes, then drain, peel, and cut into chunks. Mix together vinegar, water, sugar, and salt. Pour brine over beets and cook for 10 minutes. Put in jars and seal. Process in a boiling-water bath canner according to USDA guidelines suggested by your local extension office or the National Center for Home Preservation website.

This recipe makes a brine for 10 quarts of beets. If the vinegar is strong, you may adjust the brine ratio to 1 cup of vinegar to every 3 cups of water.

Lovina’s Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. Her newest cookbook, Amish Family Recipes, is available wherever books are sold.  Because Lovina is Old Order Amish, she does not have email or a telephone in her home. Lovina does not respond to comments on this website, if you would like to contact her directly, click here.

Today is the last day of August. This summer is flying by so fast, it seems. I have tomatoes, pickles, and red beets to be put in jars. I will probably make salsa with the tomatoes that I have picked. The plants are loaded with more. How thankful we can be for this bountiful harvest. We can now enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Last week we canned 42 quarts of V-8 juice, which makes a good drink. I make ours spicy by adding extra hot peppers, but I also make some that isn’t spicy so I can use it in soups when the grandchildren come home.

Yesterday daughter Lovina and I and daughter Loretta and seven-and-a-half-week-old baby Denzel went to daughter Elizabeth’s to assist her with her cleaning. We used our horse Midnight and Dustin and Loretta’s buggy. Their buggy is pretty neat. It has a lift in the back run by a battery charged by a solar panel on the buggy. So I could push a button, and it lifted Loretta and her mobility scooter into the buggy. There were many times when Loretta didn’t want to leave because she didn’t want us to have to lift her in the buggy. So now she can leave with us when Dustin isn’t along.

Daughters Susan and Verena were also at Tim and Elizabeth’s helping, and so were Susan’s friend Ervin and the children. Ervin mowed the grass, and we cleaned the kitchen, bathroom, and windows. Church services will be held at Tim and Elizabeth’s house on Saturday instead of Sunday. This will be baptismal services for son Benjamin—Lord willing. Services will be held under a tent.

Elizabeth was glad for all our help. With four children ages five and under, it’s hard to get everything done. I want to go help her Friday again.

Granddaughters Abigail and Kaitlyn came home from school together. It was so cute to see them with their backpacks. They are really getting attached to each other.

The little boys enjoyed the day together. They were playing by the window well, and Ryan, three, slipped into the well. There was a toad in there, and he was screaming because he was scared of the big toad. When Loretta went to see why he was crying Isaiah, four, and T.J., three, were pulling Ryan out of the window well. It was so sweet how the two little boys were helping Ryan.

Granddaughter Andrea, six and a half months, gets around everywhere in her walker. I was cleaning the stove, and she kept coming up to the stove, trying to grab the racks I had sitting there. She’s a sweetie and has the biggest eyes and smile.

Jennifer, four, and Allison, two, were playmates and kept each other entertained. Most times, they play doll, and Allison is Jennifer’s little girl. It’s funny how the little girls and little boys have different interests. Curtis, two, likes to hang close to wherever Susan is. He’s really attached to her already. He also likes to play with baby Denzel and Andrea.

Kaitlyn, Isaiah, and Curtis are Ervin’s children, but they already seem like my own grandchildren. They are so easy to love.

Loretta went to see the doctor again, and she still has some blood clots in her leg, so she still needs to take a blood thinner and keep them elevated often. She will have an ultrasound done again in the future.

Meanwhile, Denzel seems to keep growing. He weighs almost 10 pounds already. He really smiles and is very alert.

Friday, September 2, our youngest child Kevin will be 17 already. It’s hard to believe!

God’s blessings to all!

V-8 Juice
15 pounds of tomatoes, cut into chunks
4 celery stalks, cut in half
4 carrots, diced
4 onions, diced
4 cucumbers, sliced
4 green peppers, each cut into about 8 pieces
4–6 hot peppers, jalapeños, or whatever your preference; left whole with stems removed
6 garlic cloves

Combine all ingredients in a 20-quart kettle over medium-high heat. Cook until soft, stirring often (around 30 minutes). Remove celery stalks. Put through a Victorio strainer and pour juice into jars. I add 1 teaspoon of salt to every quart of juice. Seal jars and process them according to recommendations from your county extension office or the National Center for Food Preservation website.

Lovina’s Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. Her newest cookbook, Amish Family Recipes, is available wherever books are sold.  Because Lovina is Old Order Amish, she does not have email or a telephone in her home. Lovina does not respond to comments on this website, if you would like to contact her directly, click here.